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Kevin Seifert, ESPN writer
The NFL competition committee on Wednesday proposed a revamped kickoff that resembles the lineup used in the XFL during its 2020 and 2023 seasons, one of a series of high-profile changes that owners will consider next week at their meeting. league annual.
The committee also offered a rule that would prohibit the hip-drop tackling technique.
The kickoff proposal would be the most significant on-field rule change for the NFL in years and is designed to reverse more than a decade of declining return rates while reducing concussion rates. Essentially, the committee’s proposal would move most kicking and returning teams downfield to minimize high-speed collisions. If at least 24 of 32 owners approve it, the rule would go into effect for only one year.
The kicker would continue kicking from the 35-yard line, but the other 10 players would line up at the receiving team’s 40-yard line. At least nine members of the return team would line up in a “staging zone” between the 35 and 30 yards. Up to two returners may line up in a “landing zone” between the goal line and the 20-yard line. No one other than the kicker and returner may move until the ball touches the ground or a player inside the landing zone. Touchbacks would be marked at the 35-yard line and no fair catches would be allowed.
Should a team want to attempt an onside kick, it would have to inform the officials of its intention and would then be allowed to use the traditional NFL formation. No surprise side kicks would be allowed.
The proposal follows the structure and philosophy of the XFL version with a slight change in the player lineup. In the XFL, they lined up further down the field, between the returning team’s 30 and 35 yards. More than 90% of kickoffs were returned during the XFL’s two seasons.
The reason for the proposed changes is clear. In its efforts to reduce concussions on kickoffs, the NFL over the past 15 seasons has implemented rule changes designed to reduce returns. It moved the kickoff from the 30-yard line to the 35-yard line, banned wedge and double-team blocks, and in 2023 created a rule allowing a fair catch to be detected at the 25-yard line.
Touchback rates increased dramatically during that period and the return rate fell to a league-record 21.7% in 2023. The number of concussions also decreased, but only in parallel with the decline in returns. The rate of concussions per kickoff, according to league officials, has remained relatively constant.
It’s unclear how owners will react to the changes. When the XFL and USFL merged this season, the resulting UFL scrapped the XFL version and opted to use the traditional NFL kickoff alignment.
Meanwhile, the committee’s attempt to eliminate hip-drop tackles (a dangerous technique that often results in lower-body injuries) requires officials to take note of two actions: If a defender “grabs the running back with both hands or wraps it with both arms. “, according to the wording of the proposal and also “weight is released by twisting and dropping the hips and/or lower body, landing and trapping the runner’s leg at or under the knee.”
The committee’s proposals came a week after teams made a series of their own rule change requests.
Other proposals from the committee included:
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Add two instances to the list of reviewable plays: if a passer is out of bounds or down on contact before throwing, and if the game clock has expired before a snap.
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Expand the rule against fast-break blocks to players “who move and move beyond the center to block a defender at or below the knee,” according to the proposal.
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Allow teams to use a practice squad quarterback as their emergency No. 3 quarterback. Currently that quarterback should have previously been part of the 53-man roster.